Adventures in the Caribbean

Just popping in for another travel report....last month I went on a Caribbean cruise with some friends. Ever since my trip to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, I've been wanting to explore some other Caribbean islands and a cruise is definitely the way to do it!

Adventures in...Idaho?

Hello there - how has your summer been?  Can you believe we're already into July?   Before the 4th of July holiday, I escaped for a long weekend vacation to Idaho.   I never thought I would ever make plans to go there, but my brother lives there now and I love potatoes, so I think those are two good reasons to go!

My friend joined me on the trip and we stayed in Downtown Boise.  This was the view from our hotel. And by the way, it was about 9:30pm when I took this picture!  I had no idea that in some states, it doesn't get dark until late during the height of summer.  Crazy!

Be prepared for pictures galore!  (I'll just give the highlights, though).

Adventures in Italy

Reality bites!  (Name that movie - haha - trick question).  Once again, I've been M.I.A.   I was busy checking something off of my bucket list!  I went to Italy!  I am part Italian and as long as I can remember, I have wanted to go there.  My great-grandparents traveled by boat to the U.S. from Italy and ended up in the San Francisco/Oakland (California) area.  I have memories of visiting my great-grandparents when I was little and being frightened of them!  I think the fact that they spoke only Italian to me scared me, but I was always swayed by animal crackers.  :)

I went with some friends and we had a blast!  Here are some highlights from the trip (prepare for picture overload!).

ROME

Vatican

Rainbow over the Vatican

Spanish Steps

Colliseum

Inside the Colliseum

Colliseum

View of the Colliseum from Palatine

Pantheon

SORRENTO

Sorrento coast

Sorrento coast

Amalfi

Lemons are a big product here

 Kitchen in Pompeii

Pompeii

Pompeii victims of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD

The baths in Pompeii

Pompeii marina

View of Mt. Vesuvius from Pompeii

Capri

In Capri - my friend said she should have worn her capri pants in Capri! hahahaha

Capri

Blue Grotto - Capri

Blue Grotto

Blue Grotto

White Grotto - Capri

FLORENCE

On the Arno River

Us girls on the Ponte Vecchio

Duomo

"Perseus with the Head of Medusa" which is in the Loggia dei Lanzi

At the Ufizzi Museum (with our new purses!)

Florence view from the Piazelle Michelangelo

Enjoying the view from the Piazelle Michelangelo

View of Ponte Vecchio (bridge)

Ponte Vecchio

View of Florence at night from the Piazelle Michelangelo (and right before the clouds dumped rain on us while we were walking back to our hotel!)

Are you ready to see some of the food?

Ravioli

Spaghetti with meatballs

Gnocchi

Hawaiian Pizza

Margerita Pizza

Spaghetti Alio, Olio, y Peperoncino (spaghetti with garlic, oil, and peppers)

Chocolate gelato

Chocolate lava cake

We had such a wonderful time!  (although, all the walking, especially on the cobblestones, killed my feet!)  I love history, so it was an amazing experience and I would love to go back again.  The food was great, although, I wasn't impressed with the food in Rome, especially the pizza (thin crust).  The best pizza I had was in Amalfi (the Margerita pizza above) - so yummy.  And my favorite dish was the spaghetti alio, olio, y peperoncino in Sorrento - I had it twice!  There were TONS of gelato shops, so of course we had that too.  :)

I had to really prepare for the trip for about two weeks prior (shopping, cleaning the house, and finishing up any projects I started).  And for this week that I've been back, I've been a bit useless because of the jet lag.  But, I'm ready to enjoy my favorite month and holiday (Halloween) and ready to start some new projects.  Happy Fall!

posted by: Adventures in DIY

Summer Vacation

Well, hello there - long time, no talk!  It's been...holy moly!  It's been over 2 weeks since I last posted.  I've been very, very busy this month and boy, am I exhausted!  One of my best friends who lives in Utah came out with her family to spend their vacation with me here in Southern California.   We went here...

(Disneyland & California Adventure)

And here...

(Sea World - San Diego)

We did tons of walking and my legs, ankle, and feet were hurting so bad, I had to skip out on the beach day (which totally bummed me out!  I was looking forward to going).  But, I had such a great time visiting with them.  It had been many years since I had seen her and her husband and their two older kids and had never met their youngest!  It was a jam-packed week, but we had a blast.  And to top that off, her extremely handy hubby helped me with some house stuff!  Score!  (I'll be posting more on that later).

After my friends left, I took my nephew here...

(Universal Studios - Hollywood)

The new Transformers ride is pretty fun!  We even went on it twice.  I heard that they will be making a Harry Potter section like they have in Florida, which I'm looking forward to.  And oh. my. goodness.  I just noticed in the picture above that my nephew is almost as tall as me now.  Geez - I hate when the kiddos start passing me up in height.  :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and stay tuned for more posts soon to come!

Posted by Adventures in DIY